Lie of My Life

6 The Competition

It was far past dinnertime and very dark outside by the time I heard someone coming down the stairs into the office. I sat up at my desk, blinking in the dim light of my desk lamp and rubbing my eyes from the strain. I glanced at the clock. How late was it? I groaned. Ten at night. How did I do this? How did I always get so lost in a new design that I lost track of time?

"Ava?" someone called into the open space. I recognized Emma's voice.

"Here," I called back. "I'm at my desk."

I heard the footsteps before I saw her. She stood in front of me, donning sweatpants and a messy bun atop her head. She yawned and looked down at my sketches.

"What are you still doing down here?" she asked.

"I had an inspiration," I told her. "I didn't want to stop until it was all out of my head and on paper."

She nodded and took a seat across from me. "Well? Did you accomplish that task?"

"I thought so," I told her. "But it doesn't look right. There's something... off about it."

I tilted my head to the side and peered down at the blueprints. My phone buzzed again for the umpteenth time tonight and I sighed.

"It's Brad," I said without looking. "He's been texting me all night."

Emma frowned. "I guess Carter's ruse didn't work."

"If anything, it's made it worse. I'm more of a challenge to him now, I guess."

"What about dick pic lawyer?" she asked then. "Are you going to see him again?"

"I don't know," I confessed, leaning back in my seat and rubbing my temples. I felt a stress headache coming on. "I mean he was really nice when we went out but then he sent that message and... I don't know..."

"I know. But it's clear he wants something physical and if that's all you need for the time being then... I'm just saying. It's my job to hold you accountable, right? So I want to make sure you're trying."

"Are you trying with Shane?" I snapped at her then and immediately regretted it when I saw the hurt on her face. She really liked him, we could all tell that, and they were taking things slow for the moment. But it was clear there was something there and, though she hadn't yet been on a date to honor our deal, I couldn't deny that she was spending far more time with a man she was interested in than I was. I sighed. "I'm sorry Em. Really. I didn't mean that. I'm just... I'm so on edge lately."

To my surprise, she grinned at that. "Maybe you just need someone to... take the edge off."

She winked at me then and I laughed.

"Just saying," she told me then, standing and yawning. "Think about it."

Then she was leaving the office, heading back up the stairs to her apartment for the night. I reached out and shut off my desk lamp, considering her suggestion. She was right about one thing. I was wound up extremely tight lately with deadlines and budget concerns. Maybe I did need to relax. And maybe that was a good way of doing it. It had been a while. But then my phone buzzed again and I saw Brad's name on the screen and suddenly sex was the furthest thing from my mind.

The next day, Wednesday, Emma and I met Shane at the model house for the billboard shoot. I was handed a hard hat and Emma perfected my makeup before I was posed perched on a stool at the kitchen counter, pen in my hand poised over a set of blueprints, concentrated look on my face. Shane shot the photos, calling out suggestions for how to change my expression, look more natural, etc. Emma was there mostly for moral support and encouragement and largely to fix my hair or makeup when it was smudged or I had flyaways. It was an odd procedure, the photo shoot. I had never in my life experienced so much attention in a single afternoon. It was stressful and exhausting. By the time we were finished, I wanted nothing more than to go home and take a nice relaxing bath in my tub. So that's precisely what I did.